Heavy Snowfall Leaves Kentucky Drivers Stranded for Hours
Drivers on a highway in Kentucky were stranded for nearly 24 hours on Thursday due to heavy snow that caused dangerous driving conditions.
Drivers shared their angst on social media after being stranded in their cars from 12 to 24 hours due to two major accidents on both the south and northbound lanes of the I-65, located near Elizabethtown.
The major accidents caused a 20 mile backup in the southbound lane of the I-65 and a ten mile backup in the highway's northbound lane.
The serious accidents were reportedly due to a large hill that stretches the I-65 as it approaches Elizabethtown that authorities say is nearly impossible to climb during a heavy snowstorm.
Several drivers stranded in the snowstorm took to social media to express their dismay. According to Associated Press, drivers took a series of actions to survive while stranded in their vehicles, including turning off their cars to preserve fuel and drinking melted snow.
Others attempted to help dig out cars deeply buried in the growing snowfall.
"This has been a lesson of survival," one 54-year-old driver, who is diabetic, told the Associated Press.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced that by Thursday afternoon traffic had begun to move again.
"We have finally cleared some emergency lanes on the sides of the roads, and the traffic now northbound on I-65 is beginning to move slowly and to clear out," he told CNN. "It will take several hours to clear it out, because it's backed up so much. But it is moving again, thank goodness."
